Age-related differences in vocal responses to pitch feedback perturbations: a preliminary study.

The present study tested the effect of age on voice fundamental frequency (F(0)) responses to pitch-shifted feedback. Pitch-shift stimuli (-100 cents, 200 ms duration) were presented to 30 native-English speakers: 10 children (7-12 yrs), 10 younger adults (19-21 yrs), and 10 older adults (60-73 yrs). Significantly larger response magnitudes were found in the older group compared to the children and young adult groups, while the longest latencies were associated with the children group as compared to the two adult groups. These findings provide preliminary evidence of an age effect on the modulation of vocal responses to pitch-shifted feedback.